"No fair! you both get to have off the whole week while i still work every day! come on Olette, you have to convince Bernie to let me stay home too!" Hansel cries, flailing about like a child.

"Oh come on Hans, we need your brawn while im training for my big day! the mine production will drop too low if all three of us quit working, plus, Olette is the only one of us who can actually cook a decent meal, and you're the best in the mines aside from me, we'll make it up to you after im able to cancel my wedding banquet, okay?" Alayne smiles, and ruffles Hans' head.

Alayne smiles to herself, her support network that has been with her since she was young, the ones that kept her sane through all of the bullying, harrassment, and most of all, the death of the one she loved most, her mother. the three of them were as close as could be, bathing together as kids, pushing through awkward teenage years together, and now reaching the first steps of adulthood all in good health, considering how dangerous the tribe could be at times, Alayne was thankful those closest to her remained safe. Much of this was attributed to her father, and it's the reason why she could never hate him.

Suddenly feeling emotional, Alayne grabs both Olette and Hans in each of her arms, and squeezes them.

"I love you both, and i'll improve things around here when I become chief!" 

"Yeah yeah, just help me convince Bernie to let me stay home!"

"Hans you dont live here."

***

The days of Alayne's training begin, the following night of the last day she saw her father, her blue pigment faded, but her skin still remained as solid as could be, even among the hard Fell-Marked tribe, she stuck out entirely. body driven to what seems to be the absolute peak of soul hardening. Many weird realizations occured during this time, on the first day, Alayne figured out that she was suddenly able to control her soulforce! her vast soul ocean could not even be percieved by the greatest of practicioners, yet her abilities, and her wild and out of control soul, seemed to just be alright now. 

Secondly, for now, the dragon was unable to be reached, Alayne told Bernie and Olette only about her true experience that night. The two believed her, but urged her to keep it a secret. The tribe was, save for Alayne's closest, All against her achieving anything in any sort of way, her teachers in school ensured she had horrible grades, and she was bullied relentlessly, It's only thanks to Bernie teaching her in secret at the mines did she even obtain the same education as everyone else. her father changed after mother died. and their relationship has been sour since.

The only other thing really happening was that, the lifebugs all around had seemed to begin flocking around her, constantly needing to be gently swatted away, going as far as blocking her path to the training grounds on days she was too tired, and snapping her out of her funk whenever she got too obsessed with training. 

On the 4th day of the week, Alayne was capable of Conjuring soul items, and playing around with the soulforce in many other ways as well, she passed all basic tests she had failed for so many years prior. Olette stayed with her the whole way, cheering her on, cooking her meals, and providing guidance, as Olette herself was considered a prodigy of soulforce, despite her physical strength and stature, being much lower than most of the others in the tribe. She was capable of producing just about anything she wanted with her soulforce, doing so on instinct more often than not, and was looking forward to a refutable career as a manager of affairs in the future off of this alone. 

To the Fell-Marked, Soul oceans meant everything. it is what protected them for so long against invaders, barbarians, and marauders seeking to poach them for the rare few of them that had horns, or the scales on their arms. The Fell, A desert region in the north coast of the Cerfer Country, was inhabited essentially by only Fell-Marked. Upon birth, the gods grant you a mark based on where you were born. It has been this way since ages past. 

The Fell-Marked possess a unique half circle mark with a line slicing through it, almost like a crescent moon cut in half. it was beautiful to those who saw it. but general opinion was that the Fell-Marked should be avoided, and were much weaker on average than those of the Truth, Scar, and Seer Marked. all inhabiting different deserts of the world. the closest major city. Rafla, traded often with the Fell. this was thanks to Alessia and Titan, spoken pioneers of the new age of the Fell. Who battled together, made peace with the other Marked, and trained and devised a guard regime for the poachers that would seek to kill or enslave Fell for their marks, or their scales or horns. 

Finally, Alayne comes along. The Fell live a remarkably long life. Similar to that of the Elves inhabiting the hidden forest. so the humans naturally come to fear them. Titan has been pressured to birth a new, male child, for a guaranteed powerful family lineage. He had Alayne at only 40, Alessia had passed away 10 years ago. The old war hero swears to never love again, drinking heavily to stuff the pain of her passing away. 

After a few more days of training, the dawn comes on the day of her test. Alayne is awake bright and early, and prepared for whatever may come her way now.